Rival plan launched for city's community stadium

Rival proposals have been unveiled for a community stadium for Cambridge – also promising a concert hall and an ice rink.

Developers Grosvenor have already put forward plans to build an 8,000-seat new home for Cambridge United south of Trumpington, but now a planning expert has launched a multi-million pound bid to develop land north of the A14, between Impington and Milton.

Leonard Martin believes the 60-acre site could host a 10,000-capacity stadium, plus a concert hall, an ice rink, and a conference centre, linked by footpaths to an expanded park and ride site at Milton and a new park and ride site next to the Holiday Inn in Impington, which would itself be extended.

Mr Martin, who has been involved in the transformation of Hinxton Hall into a biomedical campus and the creation of Capital Park in Fulbourn, as well as the redevelopment of Waterbeach barracks, has submitted details of the scheme to South Cambridgeshire District Council, which is currently drawing up growth plans for the next two decades.

Scroll to the bottom of this story to see a map of Mr Martin's proposal.

He hopes his green belt site will be picked above Grosvenor’s, which has been criticised by residents who argue Trumpington has already taken its share of development.

If the northern option is picked by the council, Mr Martin hopes the U’s would join the project, ahead of the building of homes at the R Costings Abbey Stadium in Newmarket Road.

Mr Martin, who is based in Cambridge Place, off Hills Road, said: “Cambridge has already got a mix of sporting and cultural assets and as the number of houses and jobs grow, we need to provide more.

“The growth agenda is also thought to need a major new conference centre because the city, despite its international profile, doesn’t have one and you can’t use the college facilities during term-time.”

Studies have identified that Cambridge needs a community stadium, ice rink and concert hall, and Mr Martin believes that putting them on the same site would save costs and boost ticket sales.

He said the site he has identified– which he has dubbed “Union Place” – is best because it is close to the A14 and the planned train station at Chesterton, as well as the guided busway, which would have a new stop for the stadium. In his vision, nearby Cambridge Regional College would also make use of the sporting and concert hall facilities. The adjacent travellers’ site would remain.

While the Grosvenor proposal would be bankrolled, in part, by the construction of 420 extra homes south of Trumpington and up to 200 properties at the Abbey, Mr Martin has described his scheme as a “public interest” project.

It is hoped funding would come from community contributions linked to housing developments, councils, and local businesses and organisations.

But the Grosvenor scheme already has the U’s backing, along with the support of other organisations which would use the sporting village at Trumpington, such as Anglia Ruskin University.

Ed Skeates, projects director for Grosvenor, said he had discounted the northern site as part of his analysis – and that a planning inspector had also ruled out development there.

He said: “Our application will be going in early next year and is the culmination of two-and-a-half years of rigorous investigation planning and consultation including a cross authority working group.

“The Cambridge Sporting Village is viable, deliverable, has a strong economic case and will provide an exciting mix of sports, education and community facilities.”

Cllr Pippa Corney, South Cambridgeshire District Council’s cabinet member for planning policy, said Mr Martin’s views would be considered “alongside all the others we have had about a community stadium”.

The district council and Cambridge City Council will decide if the facilities are needed and, if so, where they should go, under new local plans which should be adopted by 2014.

What do you think? Where should the stadium be built? Post a comment below.

20 comments

Seems fair. The A14/A10 is a hellhole, but a facility such as this is used before and after rush hours and at weekends. I would, however, question the validity of an Ice Rink at all. A Bowling alley maybe, but how many people do you know that regularly use an ice-rink?

These people have obviously never tried to get down the A10 or out of Histon in the mornings, or back again in the evenings. The A14 is aleady a nightmare. Just what we need - a whole load of extra traffic coming to park in the one lovely quiet place left to us by the Holiday Inn Lake. There is so much wildlife there, the whole thing is a disaster.

Sort of the right idea, totally the wrong place. There's already a development site for sale on the other side of the A10 which could accommodate the conference centre so why not there? And the new stadium could go to Waterbeach. Otherwise something like this could be an 'anchor' for a new community like Northstowe, which would also rationalise the idea of grouping all these facilities in one place. And what of the travellers and their ponies? They have been on that land for longer than I've lived in Cambridge, which is more than 30 years. What does Mr Martin really know about the needs of Cambridge residents? Sounds like it's just a planning case-study for him.

A stadium near a landfill site by the Regional Collage and Science Park, at the crossroads of the A14 and two guided bus routes (one to be build) seems much more appropriate than the Trumpington proposal.